Strength Training for Democracy!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Well once again, today was a high rep leg day....this is where I squat about 70% of my max weight for 15 reps, then deadlift about 80% of my max weight for 15 reps. These are the days that try men's souls. The summer gym rat and the sunshine lifter will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their bodies; but they that stand by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

The only reason I so poorly paraphrase Thomas Paine is that today, I worked out with my trainer. Yes, those of you who follow my travails with this East German Stasi agent, should know that today he decided to work in with me. That in and of itself deserves a re-reading of our Revolutionary War documents!

Note, he didn't ask if he could work in with me....he declared, in the way that only a Communist peasant can declare to a landowner that the family farm now belongs to the state.

"Today, I vill verk in vit you" (Today, I will work in with you)

"What is this the gym equivalent of a Proletariat Revolution? This is America you Commie bastard. I'm paying YOU to train ME!"

"I vill also do legs today" (I will also do legs today)....he gave me that stubborn Eastern European look (he could be Russian, Ukrainian, or any number of ethnic blends) that signified he'd just wait me out till I came around to doing it his way.

"OK, you're on dude....3 sets of 15 reps, mano-a-mano. And don't start talking any Bolshevik in between sets!"

So off we went. I slapped 185 lbs on the bar for squats and counted, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....then repeated. The only way I get through these is to just think of doing 3 sets of 5. By the time I was done, my heart rate was up to 90% of max.

I won't even say what Stasi-boy put on the bar, but it was impressive. As were his squats....deep, knees BELOW parallel, slow and controlled. I hate him.

Then I went again. Second set tougher than the first, but 15 solid squats later, I was done.

Stasi boy got under the bar....and eked his out as well....but I detected a slight vibrato in his voice at the end of the set....he was feeling the pain.

YES, finally, a chink in the armor. Screw you and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat....I'm squatting for Democracy, Truth, Justice, and the American Way!

I slapped that bar on my back and squatted for all we hold dear people! Quotes by Thomas Paine floated in my head, "....the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value!"

Fifteen long squats later, I got out from under the bar, looked into his Slavic eyes and thought, "“I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” but just smiled and said, "All yours, Comrade!"

He worked his Teutonic butt off for that last set....it didn't come easy....even he was heaving by the end of it. Did I feel sympathy, did I feel any remorse, regret, compassion?

Not even a flicker!

"Let's go Tovarich, deadlifts next!"

I pulled 255 lbs, 15 times for those 3 sets. My heart rate was up, my breathing was up, I was sweating like a race horse....but for me, this was the final showdown, this was Rocky 4 all over again, no way in hell was I going to not get that bar up every time! In your face Mother Russia!

Have I mentioned, I'm a little competitive?

So it was quite possibly the best hi-rep day I have had in a very, very long time. Not only did I knock out major PRs on squats and deadlifts, but I actually felt nice and strong doing them. There might be hell to pay tomorrow on my legs as I sit in a plane for hours on end, but that's the price we pay for supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic!

way to take a stand for the American way! I still think Stasi guy knows a thing or 2 about reverse psychology. Whatever are you going to do when you move to VA? It's too much to expect one of his brethren to be a sleeper agent in your new town.